New GSM players will collapse in 3 yrs: Sunil Mittal

BARCELONA: Bharti Group chairman and CEO Sunil Mittal predicted on the sidelines of the GSM Mobile Congress here that new entrants into the sector would "collapse within 36 months" owing to the pressures of high costs and competition. Any new player offering talktime of 20 million, 50 million or even 100 million minutes a day can only make losses, he said.

Arun Sarin, CEO of competitor Vodafone, had on the previous day remarked that consolidation would start soon in the telecom sector and that only one or two new players would remain in the arena eventually.

Bharti Airtel, like its competitors, has battled several challenges, one of the biggest being spectrum scarcity, to gain market share. At the Congress, the company announced at the that it has achieved a customer base of 60 million subscribers in India���both mobile and fixed-line and broadband. Bharti now sees one billion minutes of traffic going through its network per day. "To be among the top telcos (in the world) is a significant achievement not only for us but for the Indian telecom industry," said Mittal.

Mr Mittal was on Wednesday awarded the GSM Association Chairman's Award 2008 in Barcelona ���this is the highest honour in the global telecom sector. Commenting on the award, Mr Mittal said: ���This award is a tribute to India's telecom growth story, Bharti's vision and the emergence of Indian telcos on the global stage.

It has been a privilege for me personally and Bharti Airtel to have been a part of this telecom revolution that has delivered affordable telecom services for all and has transformed the lives of millions across India.���

Among the fastest-growing telecom companies globally, Bharti has added 10 million customers in the last four months alone. And much of thishas come from its thrust on rural markets, where telecom infrastructure has been the weakest link in India's surging telecom growth story. Added Bharti Airtel president Manoj Kohli: ���It is a gratifying moment because very few companies have come up to this level.���

(This article was originally published in The Times of India)

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